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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Fixed error "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" that could show up. If you installed version 11.0, uninstall first the JTB FlexReport Core, JTB FlexReport Report Service and/or JTB FlexReport Process Monitor Service.

The upgrade is free for all customers with maintenance in place. If you would like to renew the maintenance to get access to this update please contact us.

Monday, December 18, 2017

JTB FlexReport 11.0 has been released. JTB FlexReport is a report tool for often expensive applications using various license managers like FlexNet, DSLS, SPLM, RLM, LM-X.

Do you want to optimize your software purchases for the future? JTB FlexReport is an inexpensive solution that will help you. By the license tracking JTB FlexReport does and the reports that can be produced JTB FlexReport will help you to manage and forecast future license usage and license usage trends at your company.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Guest Article by Ethan Yakhin from Acuity Training on how to draw a Connecting Rod and Piston in AutoCAD.

NOTE: Measurements in tutorial not actual size of a Connecting Rod or Piston. However, the sizes are proportional.

This tutorial relies heavily on correct grid click and proper snap settings. Before beginning the tutorial, make sure your grid and snap setting look like this:

(Figure 1)

Your Object Snap settings should look like this:

(Figure 2)

Once your snap settings match mine, we will be ready to begin. We will be making a 2D representation of both a Piston, and a Connecting Rod. A Piston is a critical part of every car engine, and is a key part of the intake process. A Connecting Rod is a part that connects a Piston to a ‘crank’ or ‘crankshaft’.

PART 1: Connecting Rod (without) Piston

First, start by making a circle (C) with a radius of 3.5 inches. Make sure this circle is centered on a major grid point.

(Figure 3)

Next, you want to make a copy (CP) of our circle and place it in the same location as in Figure 4. Do not leave the CP command yet. With the snap settings we have set, it should be no trouble at all.

(Figure 4)

Add another copy at the location show in Figure 5. After clicking, you can leave the CP command.

(Figure 5)

Next, go back to the centre of the original circle, and make another one that has a radius of 3 inches.

(Figure 6)

It is going to get tricky now so make sure you follow the direction closely. Make a Line (L) with a start point on our first circle’s North Quadrant, and an end point 1’2” above that. Wait for further instruction before escaping the Line command.

Figure 7

With the Line tool still active, place your next click on the West Quadrant of the third circle we made.

Figure 8

Place your next click exactly 3” West. Then, finally, place your final click on the top of the first line we created. After this you can leave the Line Command.

(Figure 9)

You can delete the horizontal line. We won’t be needing it.

Refer carefully to Figure 10 for the next part. Using the Line tool (L), follow the clicks sequentially using the 4 endpoints circled in Figure 10.

(Figure 10)

Using the Trim tool (TRIM), select the 4 lines highlighted in Figure 11, and then press ENTER

(Figure 11)

After hitting ENTER, Select the outer parts of the left and right circle. Those part should, disappear leaving only an arc. Hit ENTER again to leave the Trim Command.

(Figure 12)

Delete the Vertical Line. We will not need it anymore.

Make a copy (CP) of our 2 center squares, and place it as show in Figure 13.

(Figure 13)

Scale (SCALE) the copy down to half of the original’s size. Make sure the centre point remains the same. After scaling it down, open up the Trim command againd. Select the outer circle and trim out every straight line that is within or above the 2 circles. You should end up with Figure 14.

(Figure 14)

Using the Line command, click the grid points circled in red in Figure 15, moving in numerical order. You may have to zoom in on Figure 15 to properly see all the numbers.

(Figure 15)

Often when designing things that involve arcs and straight lines missing, things end up a little deformed. To resolve this all that is need is proper adjustment. Move the endpoints of the 2 highlight lines from points 1 to points 2 (Figure 16), and trim the excess tips that are circled in Figure 17

(Figure 16)

(Figure 17)

Our Connection Rod is much better and now looks complete!

(Figure 18)

We have one last step, and the Connecting Rod (sans piston) will be complete. We still need to shade in the parts that aren’t hollow. Open up the Hatch Tool (HATCHADD). Choose any hatches you like and shade in every part except the inner 2 circles. Refer to Figure 19.

(Figure 19)

That’s how you do a Connecting Rod. All the arcs are properly centered around major gridpoints and this would be easy to even draft by hand, if needed.

PART 2: Connecting Rod (with) Piston

Now we will be going a Connecting Rod with the Piston attached. We will be working off our previous creation, so make a copy if you want to end up with both.

Select the top 2 circles, along with the hatch in between them, and then hit DEL to delete

(Figure 20)

Make a rectangle (RECTANG) following the endpoints of the one shown in Figure 21. Assuming your Object and Grid Snaps are still on, everything should work smoothly.

(Figure 21)

Select the Rectangle you’ve created and rest your mouse on the middle blue grabber of the bottom horizontal line. 3 options will pop up in a dialogue. Choose the one that says “Convert to Arc.”

(Figure 22)

The radius of the arc doesn’t matter as much as it matters that it protrudes upward. Aim for something similar to Figure 23. It may be easier for you to turn off (F9) Grid Snap just for this part. Remember to turn it back on (F9) after. While the exact radius is not significant, it is better to make the arc as subtle as possible, and if you need to go back after and make it more evident you can. (EDIT: I actually ended up doing this later in the tutorial.)

(Figure 23) Now what we are going to do is break apart (EXPLODE) the rectangle into individual lines and then delete the top horizontal line of the rectangle.

(Figure 24)

Copy the bottom arc we made onto the endpoints of the other lines. Use Figure 25 as a reference.

(Figure 25)

Note: I went back and made my arcs a little more arched after this.

Make a circle that has a half-inch radius and place it at the point shown in Figure 26.

(Figure 26)

Make 3 copies of the top arch and place the midpoint of each on one of the three red circles shown in Figure 27.

Friday, December 1, 2017

JTB BatchAttEdit is a new batch attribute editor app for AutoCAD from JTB World. The app collects attributes in all blocks of specified name patterns in multiple drawings and display in a wide spreadsheet. Then you can edit attribute texts as easy as working with Excel. Once done, click "Apply Attribute Changes" to update values to drawings.

This makes it a great app to for example edit title block attributes across many drawings instead of having to do it one drawing at a time.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

AU 2017 is going on right now. Autodesk's President and CEO, Andrew Anagnost, kicked off AU 2017 with a his and Autodesk’s perspective on automation through robots and software and the Future of Work. You can see the recording and other upcoming keynotes on the AU site. Interesting to see how Van Wijnen innovates in the way buildings are designed.

If you want to automate the design work at your company we at JTB World can help. We don’t create or use physical robots but our software still work the same by either doing the work for you or helping you with certain tasks. There are our existing software or we create customized apps based on your specific needs. It could be desktop solutions using AutoCAD, Revit or web/cloud solutions like Autodesk Forge or a combination. Feel free to contact us.

“We’ve been doing a ton of work with the LISP that you’ve developed for us, and happy to have it :)” – Customer doing roofing design

Here’s what a customer said about our SSMPropEditor: “Really wish I would have had this program several times in my career. It would have saved me a ton of work.”

Monday, October 30, 2017

JTB DST Tool has been updated to version 1.4. JTB DST Tool can merge, purge and convert Sheet Set DST files for AutoCAD, BricsCAD, GstarCAD and any other CAD software using Sheet Set DST files. For example AutoCAD's Sheet Set Manager (SSM) or AutoCAD Architecture's Project Navigator (PN) Sheet Set View.

Monday, October 16, 2017

If you run into this there is an explanation in this Autodesk Community post. Here’s the result after running DATAEXTRACTION and making the output to Excel.

I noticed the problem in AutoCAD 2018 and it seems like it is the same with older versions of AutoCAD too.

The solution is not a good one as you may put your computer in danger by uninstalling the Windows security updates.

We have become aware that Microsoft recently released some security updates for Windows operating systems. There are currently three updates that I am aware of that break functionality in Core AutoCAD and its connection with Microsoft Excel. For instance, customers can expect that when running a Data Extraction and saving the results in an Excel spreadsheet, the first cell (A1) will display ‘DeleteMe’ and no other data will appear.

The remedy at this point in time is to simply uninstall the security updates until a more permanent solution is determined. Removal should restore full functionality of the features.

Inventor 2015-2011 also appears to be affected. Removal of the security updates will restore functionality of placing such features as holes and threads. Another solution, to be taken at the customer’s own risk is to change the following registry key setting:

Thursday, October 12, 2017

JTB XClipClean is an Xclip-cutter app for AutoCAD to clean up xrefs or blocks that been clipped so that the information that is outside the clip is removed. This is useful when you need to remove hidden geometry and minimize DWG file size.

Here are the news in version 2.2:

Minor bugs fixed that could cause the app to not work in some environments

Added test to see if VBA and Express Tools are installed

The upgrade is free for customers of this app. If purchase was done via Autodesk App Store the download is available on My Downloads page. Sign in with the same account used when purchasing. Otherwise contact us for a link to download.

Question: When using Test Service Engines I get the error: Please start the Services before testing. The remote name could not be resolved: 'localHost'. But I had started the services right before pressing the test buttons in the JTB FlexReport Service Configurator. The client configurator also shows error when testing service engines.

Another error showing in a dialog box and also in Windows Event Logs: Could not load type 'System.Runtime.Diagnostics.ITraceSourceStringProvider' from assembly 'System.ServiceModel.Internals. Version=4.0.0.0. Culture=neutral. PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'.

When manually checking if the JTB FlexReport Auto Chart Service and JTB FlexReport Chart Service are running I find that they are not running and after starting them they stops directly.

The upgrade is free for existing customers of this app. If purchase was done via Autodesk App Store the download is available on My Downloads page. Sign in with the same account used when purchasing. Otherwise contact and let us know you want the update and we send the link to the full version.

JTB Sheet Set Creator is an app for AutoCAD that creates new Sheet Sets and Sheets based on an Excel template.

Sheet Set Properties can be populated.

Sheet Set Custom Properties can be defined, created and populated.

Sheet Properties can be populated.

Sheet Custom Properties can be defined, created and populated.

Sheets (drawings) can be defined, created and have their properties populated.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

With our Palette Auto-hide Speed freeware you can adjust how the palette roll-up/roll-out (show/hide or minimize/expand) for most palettes in AutoCAD and its verticals.

Here the tips: Set Roll-up to 0 (or higher if he want the palette to stay open longer after moving away from it) and Roll-out to a high value like 5000. Using this trick you either will need to click on the title bar of the palette to show it or wait 5 seconds hovering over it before it rolls out.

Here’s an animation showing how it works and notice that just moving the mouse over the bar does not open the palette. It is first when clicking on the bar that the palette is opened.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Read the Mastering AutoCAD Sheet Sets series on the AutoCAD Blog here or if you don’t want to wait for all posts to be published, you can get it for free by downloading the Mastering AutoCAD Sheet Sets guide.

“Whether you design manufactured parts, maps, or buildings, the sheet set functionality in AutoCAD enables you to efficiently create, manage, and share your entire set of sheets from one convenient location. At first glance, the powerful functionality offered by the Sheet Set Manager may seem overwhelming but the good news is you don’t have to learn and implement all the functionality simultaneously.

We have developed this 60-page free e-book so you can immediately begin reaping the benefits of Sheet Set functionality. The eBook is structured to be self-paced, allowing you to progress through each level of implementation from the simplest to the most complex at your own speed. Spend just a few minutes each week or at your own pace until you’ve created a fully functional sheet set with minimum disruption to your current workflow.

The e-book is conveniently organized into 17 chapters with step-by-step instructions on how to create a new sheet set, how to transition to sheet set master and how to implement sheet sets for maximum efficiency.”

Sheet Set Manager (aka SSM) is available in AutoCAD since version 2005, in AutoCAD LT from version 2012, in BricsCAD V13 and newer, and GstarCAD 2015 and newer.

AutoCAD Updates can be applied to AutoCAD installed as a standalone application and AutoCAD-based vertical products. You can install the AutoCAD update in addition to any applicable updates for your vertical products listed below.

AutoCAD and Vertical Products:

AutoCAD 2018

AutoCAD Architecture 2018

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018

AutoCAD Electrical 2018

AutoCAD Map 3D 2018

AutoCAD Mechanical 2018

AutoCAD MEP 2018

AutoCAD Plant 3D 2018

Advance Steel 2018

After applying this patch, the Product Version in the About box will be listed as O.154.0.0 AutoCAD 2018.1.1 Update. If you use one of the vertical products, the Built On version will be listed as O.154.0.0 AutoCAD 2018.1.1 Update. _VERNUM returns "O.154.0.0 (UNICODE)" (read only). When installed it shows up as version 22.0.154.0 in the list of installed updates in Windows.

As a result of the detailed information that we received from customers who used the Customer Error Reporting Utility, we were able to identify and fix several defects with the following results:

Occasional crashes when opening the block editor no longer occur.

Occasional crashes when selecting or creating a non-associative hatch no longer occur.

Occasional crashes when clicking the Insert View button on the ribbon in some drawings no longer occur.

If you love to use Excel spread sheets to make edits then JTB CAD Automation Tools is for you as you can do a lot of AutoCAD automation with help of Excel like creating new drawings based on templates (useful for electrical diagrams and more), update title block attributes, inserts text, blocks or xrefs, run custom LSP files and much more.